


Can I Kiss You?

by multipurposetoolguy



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Related, Happy Ending, M/M, angsty thoughts on Bofur's part, tiny references to blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 10:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4217754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multipurposetoolguy/pseuds/multipurposetoolguy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bofur sits in his cell in Mirkwood and thinks that Bilbo's a goner, and he's having a hard time dealing with it. Luckily an invisible burglar shows up to ease his mind and save him in more ways than one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can I Kiss You?

**Author's Note:**

> This comes from a wonderful drabble prompt on tumblr, which was simply Bilbo/Bofur "Can I kiss you?", hence the title! This turned out way longer than I intended so I want to put it here, to bulk up my profile, as it were. Anyways, enjoy!

Bofur twisted his hat in his hands until he heard threads snap, his knuckles white and stretched under stark red scrapes. Letting out a strangled growl he hurled it against the wall of his cell before he could do anymore damage, letting his face fall heavily into his palms. 

This shouldn’t be happening. This  _shouldn’t_ be  _happening_. 

They’d come so far, lost nearly everything far too many times, to end up trapped in filthy Elven cells while Bilbo was *still out there. He’d yelled and cursed Thranduil’s guards, pounded his fists against the bars until they were ripped and bloody and the other dwarves in the company looked on in shocked silence. They didn’t understand, and how could they? They’d taken to their little burglar easily enough after he all but threw himself in a warg’s mouth to protect Thorin, which Bofur understood, but he couldn’t understand why they couldn’t see how much Bilbo deserved to be there  _before_ then. No one even seemed to notice when Bilbo was  _hanging off a cliff face_  for Mahal’s sake, and even now, after all he’d done for them, why was no one as angry as he was? Angry that Bilbo was left alone, either captured by more elves or worse, left to fight off those horrible nasty beasts all alone? Left to  _die_ , torn apart screaming and thinking only of his nice peaceful life that this sorry band of nobodies tore him away from? He knew that the quest was important, that he needed to be here and see it through, but right then in that dirty cell with blood on his hands and Ori’s soft crying echoing from cell to cell, he hated it. He hated that they’d almost died more than once just to end up rotting under the gnarled and twisted prisons of damned Mirkwood. He hated that the only family he had in the whole world was here dying with him, instead of safe back in the Blue Mountains. He hated that Thorin wouldn’t ever get to right the wrongs done against his people. 

He hated that Bilbo had given up everything he had only to be lost in the tangled dark so far away from home. 

He didn’t know when he started crying himself, but before he knew it he was choking sobs into his mud-stained mitts and gasping for breath, trying to reign in the sorrow that threatened to tear him apart.

A soft tapping on the bars of his cell door tore him out of his swirling thoughts, but when he jerked his head up and blinked through his tears he saw nothing.

“Bofur! Bofur it’s me, listen-” It was barely even a whisper, soft and a bit frantic and sounding so cruelly like Bilbo that Bofur let out a loud, pained sob. 

“Bilbo I- I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you, I should’ve never let you leave my side, I should’ve kept you  _safe_ -” His words died in on his tongue as Bilbo suddenly appeared before him, just outside the bars, wearing an expression of both irritation and determined hope that only Bilbo could pull off. 

“You’re in there and I’m out here and  _I_ need protecting, hmm?” He crossed his arms playfully and Bofur sobbed again, but this time it came out as a gurgling laugh. 

“You’re alive! Oh Mahal bless us, I thought I was going mad in here…” He was up against the cell door in seconds, pressed as close to Bilbo as he could get, hands wrapped tight around the bars. 

Bilbo eyed the crimson of the torn flesh and made a worried noise in his throat, reaching out to touch one injured knuckle gingerly. 

“Tried to reason with them, lot o’ good that did, you can see.”

“The bars or the elves?” Bilbo quirked a small smile, his brow still creased in worry.

“Both. The iron here was far kinder.” Just like that, with Bilbo back, he didn’t feel like the sky was falling down on him anymore. He’s spent his entire life underground, surrounded on all sides by thick stone, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. But here. in this woodland nightmare, the walls around him threatened to squeeze the air from his lungs. With Bilbo here, it was like a deep breath after almost drowning.  

Bilbo gently wrapped his hands around Bofur’s, careful around the cuts, and squeezed them gently. “Well there’s no need to reason with them further. I’m going to get you out of here.” He beamed up at him, his face glowing with firelight in the darkness as he fished a key out of his waistcoat pocket. He gave him a cheeky wink through the bars. “I’m here to save you.”

Bofur was positive that he couldn’t wipe the dreamy grin off his face if he tried, soaked in absolute relief, as he replied, “Oh trust me Bilbo, you already have.” 

Bilbo’s flush was evident even in the low light and his smile turned sheepish as he stepped closer to the bars, ducking his head. “Yes, well, that’s- that’s very kind of you to say, but I really I haven’t done all that much-”

“Can I kiss you?” Bofur beamed as he watched Bilbo’s eyes snap up to meet his, his blush getting even deeper and spreading to the tips of his ears. Bofur was filthy, his braids askew and spiderwebs still stuck in his fringe, but getting that much  _closer_ to Bilbo was the only thing that made sense at the moment. 

 Bilbo finally found his words, and his tone was betrayed by the sweet smile creeping across his face that Bofur would give every jewel in every mountain of Middle-Earth to see again. “If you must, I suppose.” 

He was leaning in, and Bofur didn’t waste a single second reaching through the bars to gently cup Bilbo’s face in both his palms, their lips meeting soft and sweet between the cold metal of the door. 

A shout from another dwarf, probably Kili, that was quickly shushed had them breaking apart and grinning at each other. The hope of salvation was washing over the company at the news of Bilbo’s arrival, and Bilbo stepped slowly out of Bofur’s hands. 

“Hold that thought, I’ll be right back.” Another cheeky wink, and a grin to match, and Bilbo was off to free the company, to save them yet again from a terrible fate, and Bofur sunk down to the floor against the wall with a long, contented sigh. 

He plopped his rumpled hat back on his head and pulled it down over his eyes, so that only his wide and toothy grin beamed from underneath. 


End file.
